DESCRIPTION: (taken from application) Partial support is requested for the 1998 Gordon Research Conference on Motile and Contractile Systems to be held June 7-12, 1998 at Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire. The purpose of this conference is to encourage the transfer of ideas and information within the community of scientists who work at the forefront of cytoskeletal research, an area that has long been recognized as critical for understanding fundamental biological processes. The focus of the conference will be the structure, mechanism of action, and functions of actin-based and tubulin-based cytoskeletal filaments. Cytoskeletal elements are essential for life in eukaryotes, making central contributions to the form and function of individual cells and to the development of multicellular organisms. Our understanding of cytoskeletal components is also relevant to understanding many normal physiological functions including wound healing, cell mediated immunity, and embryogenesis. Moreover, many pathological human conditions including certain microbe-based illnesses, neurodegenerative and musculoskeletal diseases, respiratory diseases, infertility and oncogenesis involve cytoskeletal elements. The 1998 conference will focus on areas including the molecular structure of cytoskeletal molecules, the mechanism of assembly of cytoskeletal elements, and the functions of these complexes in intracellular movements, cell locomotion, cell division, cell polarity, and signal transduction. Because of its breadth and interdisciplinary nature, the Motile and Contractile Systems Gordon Conference has continued to play a seminal role in the field, despite the proliferation of subspecialty meetings. The conference will feature a Keynote Lecture by Dr. Jim Spudich who will provide a broad overview of the structure and function of a classically important cytoskeletal protein, myosin. Approximately 40 outstanding research scientists will make formal presentations in eight lecture/ discussion sessions. Conferees who are not making formal lecture contributions will be encouraged to present their recent work in a poster format; a subset of the poster abstracts will be selected for short oral presentation in a "Poster Preview" session that will highlight some of the most striking new developments. A "Practice of Science" session that is focused on concerns of new investigators in the field will be incorporated into the program.